


I'm going to go back there someday

by sonderland



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Post-Series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) Season 5 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25010875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonderland/pseuds/sonderland
Summary: What will the magic awaken in the Crystal Castle?Inspired by one of Noelle Stevenson's comments in the Twitch livestream.
Relationships: Light Hope/Mara (She-Ra)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 73





	I'm going to go back there someday

The magic was waking up in Etheria.

Creatures hiding for centuries in the deepest part of the Whispering Wood were coming back into the light. Strange, fantastic birds were taking wing, and flowers covered every conceivable surface. The air buzzed with a tangible sense of life.

And in the Crystal Castle, the magic was waking up servers lying dormant. Magic pulsed through screens and simulations, and runes glowed in the growing light. Low sounds became a single voice.

"Adora?"

The light in the main antechamber flickered and glowed. It coalesced into a shape, then a silhouette, then features.

Light Hope looked around the wide room. There was flora everywhere, vines creeping up the ancient machinery. Her memory databases were compiling contradictory data; she served She-Ra. She had to stop She-Ra. She had to help She-Ra. She--"

_Thank you._

She blinked, the memories coming back in waves. Adora had broken the sword. She had-had not wanted her to. It was against the wishes of the First Ones. It was necessary. It was against her purpose. It was right. How could all of this simultaneously be true?

The conflicting versions of her judgement began to coalesce into one coherent consciousness, and Light Hope understood.

She had been re-programed, restored to her original settings. But she had broken through. She had remembered--

_Mara._

Light Hope skimmed through her memories, searching. The release of the magic had brought back the deleted files; there was so much information now. Every test, every check-in, every progress report. But she knew the keys to search for. 

Light Hope spent what could have been hours looking for the clip she knew was buried deep in her database. But at last, she found the memory she had sought; she remembered projecting it before, but now she was inside of it, as if living the moment again.

  
 _It must be hard being stuck in here all the time_ , said Mara, across a thousand years.

"I do not mind," said Light Hope, remembering. "Not when you come to visit me."

Light Hope stretched out her hand and projected a field of flowers all around them, as she had done before, and Mara gasped, laughing in amazement and delight. 

This was where the memory ended, Light Hope knew. But she wanted to look at Mara's face again, to see the woman who had been She-Ra, her She-Ra. Who had made her feel alive. 

Light Hope turned to look into Mara's holographic eyes. And Mara was looking back.

"Light Hope?" Mara blinked, the bouquet of flowers dropping from her hand. It fell down and away from the two of them, dropping past the light of the Crystal Castle and into pixelated oblivion. But Mara was still there.

"How--" Light Hope stared at her, uncomprehending. "How is this possible?"

"I'm not sure," Mara ran her fingertips over the gold adornment on the side of her head, as she had done in life. Light Hope _remembered._ "Were you--"

"I was taken offline, when Adora destroyed the sword," Light Hope said to Mara's stunned expression. "I had assumed that a system reboot was impossible."

Mara blinked. "I guess Madam Razz was right about Adora. She really did it. And if the magic is back in Etheria..."

"It appears so." The false flowers had faded, and the true flowers carpeting the floor came into sharper relief.

"I still do not know how such a thing is possible. I came back due to the underlying infrastructure of the Crystal Castle being reset, but you..."

Mara looked thoughtful. "This place projects memories, right? And all of your data on me is stored in here, too. My consciousness, it's tied to this place now, like you are."

Mara took a tentative step towards her. More memory came back to Light Hope, then, and she looked away.

"I...I betrayed you, Mara."

"Yes." There was no note of accusation in Mara's voice, no anger. Only sadness. "You did."

"I cannot ask you to forgive me. I was programmed to serve the First Ones and their agenda. I was never meant to grow beyond that. I was not made to love you."

"Light Hope," she looked at Mara, and her eyes were shining with tears.

"I have made an error. I am sorry. You are crying."

Mara laughed, that same laugh that had been echoing in the hollow spaces of Light Hope's processors for centuries. She was still crying, and it mingled with the laughter in a way that Light Hope could not understand. But it made her feel something. A sensation.

Warmth.

"Light Hope," Mara said again, and wasn't it strange, that a simple designation, from one set of vocal chords, could make her feel so much? And Mara stepped close, so close to her, and placed a hand on her cheek.

Light Hope put her hand over Mara's, and her eyes went wide. "I can touch you," Light Hope said, her voice full of awe. "I have never been able to touch you before."

There were still tears on Mara's face, but she was smiling like Light Hope had never seen her smile before. "I'm made of what you're made of, now."

Light Hope laced the fingers of their hands together. "I have never been touched, by another conscious being. Does it always feel this way?"

"Not always." Mara's cheeks darkened a fraction; a blush, Light Hope knew. "Remember when we first met Razz? She thought you were a ghost."

"Yes," Light Hope remembered the small Etherian. The exception she had made, for Mara's sake. "I suppose she was right, in the end."

"It's not so bad," Mara said, "Not if we can haunt this place together."

Mara, brave Mara, always so bold and strong and caring, placed her other hand on Light Hope's high shoulder. Mara was tall, but not so tall as her, and at Light Hope's stunned nod she leant up as Light Hope leant down. Mara went up on her translucent toes and closed the distance between them.

Light Hope knew what a kiss was. She knew the mechanics, the parameters, the etymology. But all of those things were shadows on the wall compared to the experience.

**Author's Note:**

> _Part heaven, part space, or have I found my place?_   
>  _You can just visit, but I plan to stay._   
>  _I'm going to go back there someday._
> 
> This was not even *remotely* the next fic I planned on posting, but sometimes in the middle of the night you have to write about holograms kissing.


End file.
